Faith in Jesus Christ is our response to God's elective purpose in our life. These two truths–God's initiative and man's response–co-exist throughout the Bible. The gospel is "the message of truth" because truth is its predominant characteristic. Salvation was conceived by the God of truth (Ps. 31:5); purchased by the Son, who is the truth (John 14:6); and is applied by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). To know it is to know the truth that sets men free (John 8:32). Believers are people of the truth (John 18:37), who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and who obey the Word of truth (John 17:17). People have rejected, neglected, redefined, and opposed God’s truth for centuries. Some cynically deny that truth even exists or that it can be known by men (John 18:38). Others foolishly think that denying truth will somehow make it go away. Truth determines the validity of one's belief. Believing a lie doesn't make it true. Conversely, failing to believe the truth doesn't make it a lie. The gospel is true because Jesus is true, not simply because Christians believe in Him. His resurrection proved the truth of His claims and constitutes the objective basis of our faith (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:3). Truth is our protection and strength (Eph. 6:14). Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. At the heart of every false religion is the notion that man can come to God by any means he chooses–by meditating, doing good deeds, and so on. But Scripture says, "There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus Christ, and we come to Him by confessing and repenting of our sin, trusting in His atoning death on the cross, and affirming His bodily resurrection from the grave (cf. Rom. 10:9-10). There is no other way to God. False religious leaders and teachers talk much about God’s love, but not His wrath and holiness; much about how deprived of good things people are, but not about their depravity; much about God’s universal fatherhood toward everyone, but not much about his unique fatherhood toward all who believe in His Son; much about what God wants to give to us, but nothing about the necessity of obedience to Him; much about health and happiness, but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is full of gaps, the greatest of which leaves out a biblical worldview of the saving gospel and replaces it with the worldview of postmodernism with its dominant ethical system of relativism. The Bible describes mankind in the end times: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but that human wisdom is defective, because it’s tainted by man’s sinfulness, and unable to perceive the things of God. That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. Scripture is divinely revealed truth that fills the vacuum of spiritual ignorance in all of us. Post-truth is the word of the year for 2016 and also the philosophy of the day, According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. In a “post-truth” world, people make choices based on emotion and experience rather than objective fact. So in a post-truth world, truth is irrelevant. What exactly is a post-truth culture? It’s a culture where truth is no longer an objective reality. It has become subjective. It’s what’s true for me—my beliefs, my opinions, determine my truth. So in our post-truth culture, man determines truth. Man makes himself the ultimate authority. This starting point, which rejects God’s Word and the idea of moral absolutes, makes truth subjective. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Objective truth exists because we have God’s Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). The Psalmist says, “The entirety of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus Himself said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks all roads lead to God. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus].” This blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell

Theology: CHRISTOLOGY – THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

1. It was prophesied: Indeed the truthfulness of God was on the line, due to the prophets message to Israel. Psalm 22:1-31, Psalm 69:1-21, Is 52:12- 53:12, Daniel 9:24-26.

2. The Old Testament sacrificial system was a picture of the death of Christ. The dieing of the Lamb of God. Hebrews 9 & 10 The study of the passover lamb and The Lamb of God is of great interest if you need something to do sometime for a sermon series.

3. Reportedly there are around one hundred and seventy-five references in the New Testament to the death of Christ.

4. The Old Testament prophets were interested in the salvation that it would bring. 1 Peter 1:10-11,

“Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”

How glad I am to be living in this age. You know how interested I was in the impeccability of Christ, so I think you can know how frustrated I would have been to be a prophet trying to figure out what I was saying and what it meant.

5. The angels also are interested in this salvation. 1 Peter 1:12, “…which things the angels desire to look into.” They are interested in what God is doing with them. We in turn wonder at His dealings with them as well.

Are we ever satisfied with how God is dealing with us as an individual, or do we wonder why He blesses so and so, so much and me so little?

6. His death was the topic of discussion at the transfiguration. Luke 9:30- 31, “…spoke of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” This verse relates to the fact that He laid down His life and they did not take it from Him. We will see this shortly. (John 10:17-18)

7. It is the topic of worship and a song in heaven. Revelation 5:8-12, “…thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood….”

HIS DEATH WAS NEEDED

1. It was according to the purpose of God. He planned that He would save mankind through the shed blood of His Son. He planned and He purposed the very death of His Son. Acts 2:23, 1 Peter 1:19-20, Revelation 13:8.

2. It was needed to fulfill prophecy. Not that the prophets said something, and He needed to follow through on their promises, but that He planned and purposed and then revealed this, before the fact, through the prophets. Matthew 26:52-54, Luke 24:25-27.

3. It was needed to provide salvation to man. God had foreordained that the Lamb of God would die, before the foundation of the world. Christ’s death was a prerequisite to God saving mankind. Indeed, there is no other plan, no other act that would have fit the purpose of God. John 3:14-16, John 12:24.

4. It was to obey the will of the Father. If the Son were to follow the will of the Father He must die. This was the struggle of the garden. He did not want to carry the burden of man in His death, but He was submitting to the will of the Father. John 10:18 in the context of His dieing stated, “…This commandment have I received of my Father.” Philippians 2:8

ABOUT HIS DEATH

1. It was a separation from God. Matthew 27:46, “…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The ramifications of this statement, and other questions that arise from it will have to be done in your own research, because we do not have time to cover it. Was this a separation of

God from Christ’s humanity or deity? Was this a separation as in a split in the trinity?

2. It was a separation of the spirit and the body. Matthew 27:50, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit.” When man dies the body goes to the earth for rot, and the spirit and soul go to be with the Lord for eternal joy.

We know it, we believe it, we preach it, yet when it comes down to ME dieing, I become uncomfortable. Yes, I am ready to meet the Lord. Yes, I know to die is gain. Yes, I know there will be no more pain. Yes, I know there will be joy. No, I am not comfortable with that last moment of transition. Haven’t you heard? I dislike change. It is an experience I look forward to, yet I am hesitant to desire its closeness.

3. It was voluntary. John 10:17-18,

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

He did not have to die. He could have walked through the crowds. He could have floated down off the cross. He could have done millions of things, yet He chose to lay His life down for you and me.

4. It was vicarious. 1 Peter 3:18,

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,”

Vicarious means = “…sympathetic participation in the experience of another” Webster. He suffered in our place. We benefit because of His death. We probably couldn’t count all of the benefits that His death brought to us. Luke 9:30-31

5. It was sacrificial. 1 Corinthians 5:7, “…For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.” Without sacrifice there can be no improvement for mankind in its sin. The slaying of the animals for Adam and Eve’s sin, benefited their error. The killing of animals under the law was specifically linked to covering the sin of man.

6. It was substitutionary. 1 Peter 2:24,

“Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Christ, in His sacrifice died in our place. We should have died spiritually, but He took upon Himself that punishment that we might have spiritual life.

7. It provided redemption. Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace,” Matthew 20:28

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

Note should be taken that it was propitiation through faith in His blood. There is no propitiation by the blood alone. Man must mark his claim to salvation on his faith in the work of Christ on the cross. 1 John 4:10

THE RESULT OF HIS DEATH FOR BELIEVERS

1. He saved us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13

2. He secured for us forgiveness. Revelation 1:5, 1 John 1:9

3. He justified us. Romans 5:9

4. He saved us from wrath. Romans 5:9

5. He provided new life to us. (Regeneration) 2 Corinthians 5:17

6. By His death are we sanctified. Hebrews 10:10

7. He provided our adoption as children of God. Galatians 4:3-5

8. We are reconciled to God through His death. Romans 5:10

9. We can be cleansed by His blood. 1 John 1:7

10. We can have eternal life. John 3:14-16

THE RESULT OF HIS DEATH FOR NON-BELIEVERS

It provides salvation ready for the taking for all nonbelievers. John 1:29,

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.”

1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9

Every man woman and child that has ever been upon the earth has had this provision made for him or her. The problem is in the taking and receiving. Few benefit from His gracious provision.

THE RESULT OF HIS DEATH FOR SATAN AND THE DEMONS

1. It defeated them. John 12:31,

“Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Colossians 214-15

2. It condemned them forever. Jude 6, “And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Revelation 20:10 mentions the devil being cast into the lake of fire.

THE RESULT OF HIS DEATH FOR THE UNIVERSE

There was a reconciliation of all things in the universe. Colossians 1:19-20,

“For it pleased the Gather that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” Romans 8:20-22

“And, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore, God also hath highly exhalted him, and given him a name which is above every name,”

3. There was joy in it for Him. Hebrews 12:2,

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

THE RESULT OF CHRIST’S DEATH FOR THE FATHER

1. There was a revealing of the love of God. Romans 5:8,

“But God cammendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

2. There was a revealing of the wrath of God concerning sin. Matthew 27:46 speaks of the anguish of Christ on the cross just before His death.

3. There was final provision for Him to have a people for all of eternity.

THE RESULT OF CHRIST’S DEATH WAS FINAL

There was a final sacrifice. Hebrews 9:25-27 mentions

“…But now once, in the end of the ages, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” vs 26 Hebrews 10:11-12

UNSCRIPTURAL IDEAS CONCERNING HIS DEATH

(Theissen has a detailed rebuttal of some of these theories if you are interested. P 315 ff.)

1. That it was the death of a Martyr. Theissen states of this view, “He was killed because He was faithful to His principles and to what He considered His duty, by a generation that did not agree with Him in these respects. We are to learn fidelity to truth and duty from Him. The only thing needed to save a man is to reform him. Christ’s example is to teach man to repent of his sins and to reform.”1

There is no basis for this thought. The Scripture is quite plain that He laid down His own life. The death of a martyr can’t save anyone. If it could we could go preaching the gospel of Stephen or of the modern martyrs such as the gospel of Elliot.

2. That it was accidental death. Theissen states of this theory, “This view sees no significance in the death of Christ. He was a man and as such subject to death. His principles and methods did not appeal to the people of His day, and so they killed Him. It may have been unfortunate that so good a man was killed, but nevertheless His death had no meaning for anyone else.”2 That he was crucified in error. He had the plan all worked out how He would be set free but the Jews called for Barabus instead.

Others might suggest that the mob just took over and got out of hand. The fact that He fortold His coming death several times before the fact would prove this thinking incorrect.

3. That His death was a good moral example. Again Theissen states, “It holds that Christ’s death is the mere natural consequence of His taking human nature upon Himself, and that He merely suffered in and with the sins of His creatures. The sufferings and death of Christ are similar to those of the missionary who enters a leper colony for life, in order to save the lepers. The love of God manifested in the incarnation, the sufferings and death of Christ, are to soften human hearts and lead them to repentance.”3 Who would die to set a moral example? No one in their right mind. Those that suggest this, feel that the sinner has only to look upon the Lord’s death, and he will change. If this be the case then why did not the Jews that crucified Him change their ways?

4. That His death was to show God’s displeasure for sin. If this be so then why not crucify just any plain old sinner and not the perfect God-man? Theissen calls this the Governmental theory.

5. That His death was the execution of a criminal. So why did Pilate find no fault in Him if he were a criminal.

6. That it was a phoney. In the past, and in recent years there have been some thought given to the fact that there wasn’t really a death. That he was only drugged and after He was taken from the cross that He revived and went away. A man by the name of Schonfield relates some of this thinking in his book The Passover Plot.

CONCLUSIONS

God gave His son and He will also give us many other blessings. Romans 8:32,

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

There are some fairly lengthy studies on the results of His death in the area of redemption, propitiation etc. to be found in Ryrie’s theology p 286-297 and in The Teachers manual for the Ten Steps series by Campus Crusade.

Walvoord has a lengthy section on the death as well. PP. 153-190 Walvoord has a paragraph that I would like to share.

“In the study of Christ in His sufferings and death, one is in a holy of holies, a mercy seat sprinkled with blood, to which only the Spirit-taught mind has access. In His death Christ supremely revealed the holiness and righteousness of God as well as the love of God which prompted the sacrifice. In a similar way the infinite wisdom of god is revealed as no human mind would ever have devised such a way of salvation, and only an infinite God would be willing to sacrifice His Son.”4

I would like to close with some devotional thoughts from Spurgeon. In commenting on Matthew 27:14 where it states, “He answered him to never a word.” he mentions:

“He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. ‘Never man spake like this Man,’ and never man was silent like Him. Was this singular silence the index of His perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us? Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type of the defencelessness of sin? Nothing can be said in palliation [“to cover by excuse or apologies” Webster] or excuse of human guilt; and, therefore, He who bore its whole weight stood speechless before His judge.”

He goes on to say, “Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah’s prediction. ‘He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.’ By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of